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Story TOpics

NEW YORK (AP) - “The Lego Movie” snapped into place for moviegoers with a $69.1 million debut. The strong opening was the biggest yet of 2014 and assured Warner Bros. of a new animated franchise devoted to the interlocking toy bricks.

Also debuting over the weekend was George Clooney’s “The Monuments Men,” about Allied forces’ effort to rescue artworks taken by the Nazis in World War II. It earned $22 million, according to final box office figures Monday.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak, are:

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.